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New research absolves the woman blamed for a Chinese dynasty’s ruin
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Researchers dig to unearth remnants of what is believed to have been a fortified gate guarding an entrance to the capital of the Western Zhou dynasty.
PHOTO: QILAI SHEN/NYTIMES
Andrew Higgins
HEJIA VILLAGE, China – Digging deep into a field in north-western China, archaeologists recently uncovered chariot tracks, plumbing and the remnants of an elaborate city gate dating back more than 3,000 years – all traces of an early Chinese dynasty that has been celebrated by Confucian scholars, and also by the Communist Party, as a model of political and social harmony.
The discoveries suggest that the area that is now farmland west of the city of Xi’an, in Shaanxi province, is part of the long-vanished capital of the Western Zhou, a dynasty exalted throughout Chinese history as the acme of good governance.
